Self-contained, portable device to collect and store animal waste

ABSTRACT

A self-contained, portable device to collect multiple events of animal waste and store it inside a sealed chamber. (Please see FIG.  1 ) It is comprised of an elongated chamber with a pick-up claw assembly at one end. The claw is comprised of one static and one movable piece. The claw is manipulated by a lever which is attached to the chassis by a guide that runs along the outside of the chamber. The claw assembly is comprised of one static and one moveable scoop/claw. There is a trap door inside the chamber between the scoop/claw and the storage chamber. The specimen is covered by a small square of paper to protect the claw from contamination. Once the specimen is collected in the scoop/claw, the device is inverted and the trap door is manipulated by an external lever. The specimen will translate from the scoop, past the trap door and into an elongated bag inside the chamber. The bag assembly is inserted and removed from the clean end of the internal chamber using a guide that holds the bag in place during use. A cap at the top of the tube, at the opposite side from the scoop/claw, allows for removal of the bag from the side of the chamber that has not come into contact with the animal waste.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

People love to take their dogs with them on long walks, hikes in the country or just to the mall for an outing. This is a wonderful experience for both dog and human, except for one thing. Dogs cannot be toilet trained! To date, the only means available to clean up the unexpected pet waste that comes along with your beloved pet, does not protect a person from the bacteria and aromas that come along with pet waste.

Aside from pretending your dog did not do it and walk away quickly. There is not expedient and sanitary solution collection of the waste. Pet owners are required to carry said excrement, smelling its contents, until they can locate a trach receptacle. In some cases, that could be a very long walk.

This invention was designed for people who walk their dogs in areas where a trash receptacle is not immediately available to dispose of said waste bag. Another benefit of this invention is that waste does not come in direct contact with hands during collection but is collected at a distance of 15 inches. This light-weight and portable storage system stores multiple instances of waste in a sanitary internal chamber. That number of instances depends on the size of the dog, but the chamber is large enough to store from six to fifteen depending on dog weight. This unit focuses on keeping waste away from hands and controlling odor in a sanitary, sealed unit for long periods of time.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,093,869 An animal waste collection device allows collection of waste into a bag without soiling a user. The animal waste collection device comprises an elongated handle that comprises an actuator assembly at on end; a pick-up and collection device disposed at the other end of the elongated handle and a pick-up and collection device disposed at an end of the elongated handle from the actuator assembly. The pick-up and collection device comprising movable collection members movable connected to an elongated base member. The pick-up and collection device is adapted to receive a bag for receiving and storing animal waste collected by the animal waste collection device. There are a few problems with this device that preclude it from being useful for longer periods of use. This device does not provide for any internal chamber in which to store waste. Each collection must be deposited into an external refuse container. Also, there is no requirement to use a bag with this device, allowing the collection device to become contaminated easily.

U.S. Pat. No. 9,428,873 The disclosed pet scoop assembly includes a scoop member; a receptacle detachable engageable with the scoop member; and a door disposed intermediate the two. A disposable bag mal line the receptacle and be held in place between the receptacle and scoop member. The door is positioned to open inwardly into the receptacle. When the scoop assembly is turned into a vertical orientation the door opens by gravity or by the weight of the gathered pet waste sliding onto the door. A region of the scoop member adjacent the door is angled to allow pet waste to slide readily from scoop member into receptacle. While this product is useful for cleaning a litter box, it has several sanitation shortcomings. There is no way to empty the chamber without touching the surfaces of the shovel that was in direct contact with the excrement. There are also slits in the bottom of the container large enough to allow clean litter to drop back into the litter box. This provides no odor containment at all. This size of the chamber in this item would not allow for many scoops before the door is either blocked closed, or inversely, blocked open by the waste precluding multiple scoops without an alternative waste receptacle. Also, the user of this device must grasp the scoop in order to detach it from the body of the device in order to dispose of waste inside the chamber.

While all of the aforementioned inventions serve the purpose for which they were intended, there is still no device that purposefully provides a long-term solution for storage of waste without a secondary waste receptacle. The assembly described here-in addresses that solution.

Therefore, a need still exists for a device that provides a solution to the problem of sanitary storage of waste when expedient disposal is not available. The proposed device is comprised of an elongated, sealed chamber with a pick-up assembly at one end. The pick-up assembly is actuated by a lever which is attached to the chassis with a guide. The pick-up assembly is comprised of one static and one moveable scoop assembly. There is a trap door above the scoop/claw at the entrance of the storage chamber. Once the specimen is collected in the scoops, the device is inverted and the trap door is manipulated by an external lever. The specimen will translate from the scoop, past the trap door and into an elongated bag inside the chamber. The bag is inserted and removed with a guide that holds the bag in place during use. A cap at the top of the chamber opposite the claw, allows for removal of the bag from the clean side of the chamber that has not come into contact with the animal waste. Once stored inside the chamber, the waste cannot come into contact with hands and the odor is contained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic front-view illustration of an animal waste collection device including illustration of actuator assembly, as embodied by the invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic side-view illustration of the pick-up and collection device for an animal waste collection device, as embodied by the invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side-view illustration of the pick-up and collection device in an open position for an animal waste collection device, as embodied by the invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An animal waste collection device, as set forth herein, provides a clean, convenient device for collecting animal waste. In FIG. 1, the animal waste collection device is comprised of an elongated body or waste storage compartment (4) capped at the top with a carrying handle cap (1). A disposable animal waste collection bag (not illustrated for ease of understanding the animal waste collection device, as embodied by the invention) is installed inside the waste storage compartment. The waste pick-up and collection device is made up of two parts of a shovel assembly, one movable (8) and one static shovel (7). The shovel actuator handle (2) is attached to the pick-up and collection device (4) with an actuator guide (3). The shovel actuator handle (2) manipulates the shovel with an actuator cord (8). The movable shovel is attached to the body of the assembly with pins (6). The pins are inserted through boreholes in the body of the device. The shovel collection mechanism, as embodied by the invention, are illustrated in FIGS. 1 & 2. Other attachment hardware, such as but not limited to, leaf springs, torsion springs, tension springs, and the like may employed, as long as the functionality and purpose of the shovels, as embodied by the invention, are maintained. As the actuation assembly (2) is operated by a user of the animal waste collection device, as embodied by the invention, and the shovel is manipulated to close over the waste, the entire device is inverted. At this time, the user will manipulate the trap door (5) open to allow waste to transfer into the internal collection bag, (not shown) FIG. 2.

The materials of all collection members (5) (7) (8) can comprise any suitable, washable, durable material. For example, and in no way limiting of the invention, the collection members can be formed from a plastic material, a metallic material, naturally occurring materials including wood, and combinations thereof. These materials are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the invention in any manner.

When the user of the animal waste collection device 1 applies a force at actuator assembly (2) to open the pick-up and collection device (8), the movable collection shovel pivots about the respective pins (6) to an open position to allow for collection of waste. Once released and allowed to return to a closed position, the edges of the shovels (7) (8) are juxtaposed in essentially face-to-face relationship. Thus, any waste between the collection shovels (7) (8) can be directed to pass through the trap door (5) and be collected by a bag (not illustrated.

Therefore, this device, as embodied by the invention, can provide a convenient, neat and easy solution for the portable collection of animal waste. This device, as embodied by the invention, overcomes the above-noted deficiencies of other known devices and also provides previously unavailable ease of sanitary transport of animal waste.

While embodiments of the invention have been described, the present invention is capable of variation and modification, and therefore should not be limited to the description herein. Individual components of the described and illustrated embodiments may be used interchangeably with each other components of the described and illustrated embodiments. 

1. An animal waste collection device wherein multiple collections of animal waste are stored in a sanitary internal chamber without requiring any external disposal facility. It is comprised of an elongated chamber with a scoop/claw pick-up assembly at one end. Inside the chamber is an internal bag which will store the pet waste. A trap door is located inside the hollow chamber above the claw assembly and opened and closed by a lever on the outside of the chamber. The claw is comprised of one or more moveable shovel(s). The claw is controlled by a lever that extends along the outside of the chamber to the opposite end, away from the specimen. Once the specimen is collected, the device can be inverted to allow the waste to proceed past the trap door and into the chamber. The specimen will translate from the pick-up device, past the trap door and into the chamber.
 2. A device as in claim 1, wherein a plastic ring is used to twist the bag inside the inner chamber.
 3. A device as in claim 1, wherein the internal bag can be removed from the end cap at the top of the tube, allowing the user to touch the portion of the bag that has not been in contact with the animal waste. 